Gerald B. Bubis, z”l

Professor Gerald B. (Jerry) Bubis, who pioneered and shaped the field of Jewish communal service, died Friday evening (Aug. 21) at his Los Angeles home. Bubis was 91; his death followed a series of lengthy illnesses.

Funeral services will be held Monday at Mount Sinai Memorial Park, Los Angeles.

Bubis was the Founding Director of the School of Jewish Communal Service (now the Zelikow School of Jewish Nonprofit Management) at Hebrew Union College’s Los Angeles campus. He was the first to conceptualize, initiate, establish and sustain a program for the education and formation of professionals who would serve the totality of the Jewish community. He served as the Alfred Gottschalk Professor Emeritus of Jewish Communal Studies. His teaching and mentorship of generations of students created the field of Jewish Communal Service, while his leadership, publications, and guidance shaped and will continue to shape the Jewish nonprofit world he loved so much and served with distinction.

Jerry Bubis has been a visiting scholar at Hebrew University, Brandeis University, American Jewish University, U.C.L.A., and Haifa University. He has been a consultant, trainer and lecturer for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in Israel, Europe and Argentina. He also has served as a consultant, lecturer, and scholar-in-residence in synagogues, temples, JCCs, federations and national and international organizations in over 100 communities here and abroad.

Bubis is survived by his wife, Ruby, sister Joyce Nerman of Vancouver, Canada, son David Bubis of Los Angeles, daughter Deena Libman of San Diego, and grandchildren Rabbi Jonathan Bubis, Hannah Bubis and Molly Libman.

Comments

Sorry to hear about Jerry. We were classmates at the Talmud Torah in Minneapolis. I always enjoyed visiting with him when he came to Minneapolis. He will be missed by the entire Jewish Community. My best to the family. Babe (Shragowitz) Shragg.

Gerry was a mentor to so many of us… Still motivated by his words of being a change agent for Jewish life through its communal structure. He taught and understood process better than anyone, anywhere and he truly believed in healthy substantive lay profession relations. He will be a model for all times. His very memory is indeed a blessing. The thoughts of many are with Ruby and his wonderful family.

Truly, the Jewish people has lost a great one. The article is right, to the degree that there is such a thing as a field of Jewish Communal Service, it is because of Jerry. Warm, caring, giving, he was a mentsch of the highest order. Our students continue to study his words and learn from his insights. Yehi zikhrono livrakha – his memory is truly a blessing. – Dr. Hal M. Lewis, Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership, Chicago, IL

A great leader, teacher, and a true mensch. Jerry and Bernie Reisman were the architects of the field of Jewish communal service / professional leadership. Jerry always called ’em as he saw ’em, and brought both passion and thoughtfulness to everything he did. I’m proud to count him as one of my teachers and a treasured colleague. May his memory be for a blessing.

I only knew Jerry through his articles when I reached out to him in the late 1980’s to join the Advisory Board of PANIM. He immediately “got” what I was trying to create and agreed to serve. Despite living a coast away, Jerry made it a point to stay involved. He replied to every communication I sent out, often with questions and comments that reflected his thoughtfulness and commitment to the strength of the Jewish community, to Jewish youth, to leadership development and to social justice. On every trip to LA I would carve out the time to see him and while he thanked me for the visit, I was the one who gained the most from our time together. Jerry was a true pillar of the American Jewish community and a mensch. May his memory inspire us to live wiser and kinder.

For a very long time, I had on my bulletin board at work a list of “Bubis’ cliches.” It was a list of ten – I’m sure, before there were top 10 lists – guiding principles for work in Jewish professional leadership.

They were comforting to a young professional who was trying to figure out how to move things forward, build relationships, handle challenges, and otherwise understand the dynamics of Jewish communal life.

Sadly, they were lost during a move. If anyone has these – I got them from someone, who got them from someone, who got them from Gerry – please share! They are just one way that he gave consideration to what it meant to lead Jewish community and can be a model for all of us, professional and volunteer.

As a graduate of the first class of the School of Jewish Communal Service, Jerry left an indelible mark on my professional practice and ethics. I sought out the school while at the Penn School of Social Work in order to put “Jewish” into my thinking and doing. The program as crafted by Jerry give the students a sense of identity ,purpose and need to make a difference in Jewish communal life. The lessons that I learned have endured because Jerry and the extraordinary faculty he assembled touched my mind and my heart. With his caring partner Ruby, our class became a model for how community needs to work.The field has lost a champion and we, his students, have lost a wise and trusted mentor. Personally, I was blessed to have him in my life.

Jerry was a truly gifted educator, mentor and communal guide. His life’s work lives on and influences the communities, organizations and institutions where his many students
over the decades continue to work and live. Your memory is a blessing.

Dr. Bubis was a great teacher and role model to all of us in Jewish communal work and American Judaism owes him a great debt for his critical role in professionalizing our leadership. I hope that other obituaries note his role as a supporter and board member of the original Brandeis-Bardin Institute (now part of AJU) where he and Ruby strove to help actualize American Jewish life, intellect and culture, and where I came to so appreciate his wisdom and insight. Z”L.

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